Consol Vancells-Casanovas

Caitlin Morrissey

What is the DNA of Barcelona and what has led it to acquire these traits?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

And first of all, thanks, Greg and Caitlin, for your proposal to participate in this round of interviews around cities and their DNA and what is the DNA of Barcelona. So let me ask you, what is the DNA of Barcelona? So what comes to your mind when I say Barcelona? Your question is at the origin of the whole Barcelona brand project, which was established a few years ago. 

Let me first take a look at this concept of DNA in the cities. For Barcelona, as for any city in the world, DNA is a result of its history and geography and its people, but especially the circumstances of each era, because the negative and positive impacts the city receives modulates the DNA, reactivates it or contracts it or improves it. So those impacts may be positive, as in the past, the Olympic Games in Barcelona or in recent years, the Mobile World Capital or the summer festival, for instance, but also negative ones such as the terrorist attack in 2017 or the current crisis of Covid-19. The Covid will surely have a serious impact, which we all must deal with, with the pillars of our DNA. These factors will affect the powers of the city and its progress, the speed or slowness with which the city can learn. And we can adapt, and we can evolve.

So back in 2017, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. In these 25 years, there have been many changes, mainly a couple of them, the change in model that has meant the emergence of the internet in economic activity, and secondly, the new prominence of cities from migratory movements to urban environments. The United Nations say that around 2050, 70% of the population will live in the cities and their metropolitan areas. Others say that 2080 will be 80%, but more or less the idea is that people are moving to urban environments. So cities are emerging as new engines of economy and they are in charge of solving the most important problems of humankind.

So our differentiating facts must be valued as a lever to boost the economy and employment of citizens. So the project of the Barcelona brand was born four years ago now, among others for this reason. So to do so, we have started the process of creating the new study with the involvement of more than 300 agents and local stakeholders and 2000 international agents as well. And we conducted international and local surveys and more than 40 workshops with local agents and citizens to hear their perception of Barcelona and identify our differential value proposition. The result of these, with the collaboration of some consultancy and Professor Greg Clark, was the brand book Identity and Positioning of Barcelona Across Storytelling, where the story of Barcelona and its DNA is presented as tools for international positioning of the city. The headline's "Barcelona is the city for all of life's ventures". More or less, I should say, that this is our DNA, but we can go deeper than that.

Caitlin Morrissey

So what is it that makes Barcelona Barcelona, and how many Barcelonas are there?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

OK, as a result of our cooperation process, you identified the storytelling of Barcelona. But first, we collected the most outstanding insights of the city. Even though Barcelona is not the state capital, it is a leading city in many ways due to both its ideas as well as its character and way of doing things. Barcelona is a city that is recognized and admired around the world. Barcelona is a benchmark in terms of quality of life and is recognized as an attractive city. And then as a result of this cooperation process, we defined the storytelling Barcelona designed with a long-term perspective, which highlights the city and its capacities and features that it wishes to retain and strengthen, as well as those that it may responsibly aspire to acquire. So Barcelona, as a result of this process, we identified that Barcelona is a city of all of life’s ventures.

And what means is that Barcelona was to be a city that allows people to develop different aspects of their lives to the fullest. So the purpose of Barcelona brand is to become a model of progress, which allows for both professional and personal growth, allowing people to enjoy life to the fullest in every respect. And as a signature of this message and of this project, we decided that our signature was the words Always Barcelona, which is ‘always’ but ‘all ways’ as well, because it highlights the ability that Barcelona has to respond to the motivation of citizens throughout their lives, in all of its facets. That's our purposes.

And what are the pillars we identified to accomplish this purpose? Barcelona, as you know, is a specialist in diversity. So in this whole process, listening to all the stakeholders who identified six pillars, not one, but six, because Barcelona is very diverse, and each pillar has its corresponding proof points to accomplish this purpose. So the pillars of the DNA of Barcelona that I think that will be very important in this difficult moment we are going through are six. Barcelona is a connected city with initiative, soul –we'll talk about this difficult idea of soul – contrast and talent and commitment. What do we mean by a connected city? Barcelona is well connecting to the world thanks to a privileged geographical location and its infrastructures. The port, the airports, the highways, Barcelona also fosters strong connections, strong connections thanks to its networks of neighbourhood life and strong links with other cities in the metropolitan area. But it's not only about geographical connection, it's also about digital properties with initiatives, events and platforms that make it an advantage in our city as it is the European capital of urban mobility, the 5G hub of South Europe. And it is the world number one city for Congresses such as the mobile world capital. This may be also a challenge for us in this time of Covid.

Second pillar, initiative. Barcelona is a city of always what's next. Barcelona citizens like challenges, and we are known for our entrepreneurial spirit, the spirit of a self-made city that has been a source of inspiration and appeal for many people around the world. As an example, we have historical spaces built through the initiative of local residents such as the Santa Maria del Mar Gothic Church or the Fire of Andalusia, our opera house. Back in 1994, Barcelona Activa, the Economic Development Agency of Barcelona City Council, is another example of this initiative. But the idea promotes the occupation, training and entrepreneurship among citizens since 1997. So we have six.

The third one is the soul of Barcelona. Difficult to define this idea, and it's sometimes hard to describe. But Barcelona is a city that brings a smile to people's faces. When you go around the world and people ask you, where are you from? You say Barcelona, there's always a smile because it's a city with charm, maybe because it is a place that values the little big things in life, like enjoying free time on friendship and family, maybe because of its tradition and celebration, the life of neighbourhoods and polycentric city, or because of its – it has ninety nine local markets and a big network of libraries to promote community and culture in every district. Barcelona is also a city with regular sports practices, is either in public facilities or outdoors. In short, Barcelona is a polycentric city on a human scale designed for people.

Fourth pillar. Contrast. How many different Barcelonas, you asked. Barcelona is a city of contrasts that enrich and stimulate us, contrasts that complement each other and exist harmoniously side by side. We are specialists on diversity. One of the sentences that came out of all of these 40 workshops we were going through in the last year was – I like it very much. It says that Barcelona is the most northern city of the south and the most Mediterranean city of the north. So this is like a parallel. So it's a place where traditions blend with modernity. A city both big, cosmopolitan and global metropolis with 14 million tourists a year, but also a small city within 10 districts and 73 neighbourhoods with their own economic and social activity. So lots of Barcelonas in one.

Fifth pillar is talent, so talent as a city that promotes, attracts and develops talent, the city has seen the birth and rise of highly prominent genesis in fields such as architecture, art, literature, design, gastronomy, etc. It is the place chosen that many artists, scientists, professionals and entrepreneurs develop their ideas and launch themselves internationally. And today, the city is a talent hub with a powerful, innovative ecosystem that covers practically the entire value chain in highly diverse industries. As an example, we have the 22@, our innovation district. There two businesses fall among the world's top 10 for MBAs. Or the football club Barcelona, now in a small crisis with Messi thinking about leaving us, but not for this year.

And last but not least, commitment. Barcelona is a city with values. It is a collaborative city always committed to social and community causes. It has a history of being able to put its best foot forward during the most difficult times. As an example, 91 percent of the city's rail network is accessible. And Barcelona is the common headquarters for two large NGOs, and it will be a carbon neutral city by 2050. And last but not least, all of these Barcelonas have one personality, a diverse personality. I would highlight two features, which are an example of its temperament over the centuries, Barcelona is a curious and nonconformist city and that will help us, I hope, in these times of Covid.

Caitlin Morrissey

What was the role of geography and geology in the way that Barcelona has evolved?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, Barcelona was a natural port in the Mediterranean by two thousand years ago. So, in fact, it seems that this was the one of the attractions of its colonisation by the Romans and who gave the city the name of Barcino back in the first century before Christ. So Barcelona has a strategical geographical location in the Mediterranean Sea, which has made it over the centuries the gateway to different civilisations and goods between Southern Europe, Africa, America since the 15th century.

So Barcelona also has a mild Mediterranean climate, and it has a privileged location between the sea and the mountains with the Mediterranean Sea and the Collserola Natural Park, which, on the other hand, limits its expansion on both sides. And Barcelona is a coastal city with 4 km of beaches, and it has a friendly geography which allows us to move on foot or by bike with more than two hundred kilometres of bike lanes in our city and a good network of public transport. So it is well connected, and it's a main logistic hub of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. And we have an international airport 30 minutes from the city with 15 million passengers last year. We'll see what happens in the future.

So Barcelona currently has a population of 1.6 million, 3.2 in each metropolitan area, an area of 100km2. So we have two thousand years of history and we are in the middle of a very rich culture between north and south of Europe and Africa.

Caitlin Morrissey

And so what are Barcelona's key inventions and discoveries? What stands out to you?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

We have learned in all of these workshops – we knew already, but we have made it more evident that Barcelona is a pioneering city. With this curious and nonconformist personality, its citizens have been innovative in many fields throughout history. I could begin with the 11th century. It is said that the first European Parliament was in Barcelona in the medieval Catalonia. I know that London was there also, the second parliament, let's say, first, second parliaments by then. And it was the first place to establish legislative and judicial institutions made up of – which present the views of society, limiting the power of the monarchy by then. And in 19th century, we caught on three important inventions. First one, Narcis Monturiol was an engineer who was the inventor of the first submarine called Ictineo, also called Fish, and it was launched in the port of Barcelona back in 1859.

It is important to point the European expansion of Barcelona. Did you know that Ildefonso Cerda was the creator of the concept of urbanism? This world of urbanism that was of the end of the wars and the change, the expansion of Barcelona with the Eixample back in 19th century. And in 19th century as well, Barcelona was Spain's leading industrial city for years. And as an example of that, the first railway line of the entire country was established here in 1848 from Barcelona to Mataro, a city in north Catalonia.

Interesting inventions in the 20th century, a couple of them: So we can think about the invention of the air raid shelter. It's not a nice one, but it was a very important one. During the Spanish Civil War, the industrial engineer, Ramon Perrera, was the creator of a network of underground bomb shelters that saved the lives of thousands of people in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, especially during the Barcelona bombings. This model, we know, inspired London during World War Two afterwards.

The second one, a nicer than this one, was Mr. Frederic Durán-Jordà, that he was a Barcelona doctor and he was a pioneer on haemotherapy. He created the first transfusion service in the world in Barcelona in 1936. He faced the impossibility of transferring the wounded soldiers into the city and he began transporting blood to the front with some refrigerators of fish. So that was the beginning of this transfusion service in Barcelona.

Caitlin Morrissey

That's fantastic. I think I suspect you've already mentioned one, but who are the great leaders that come to mind as having shaped Barcelona?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, it was very interesting to look for this information because some of them were not born in Barcelona, but they came and lived in Barcelona and became famous because of what they did in around Barcelona. So it is difficult to go on in detail, and I have given priority to those people who were born in Barcelona, but here's my list and see if you like it.

So first of all, Ildefons Cerda, I already mentioned he was responsible for the radical and innovative urban change in the 19th century with the example of Barcelona. Then in culture, we could name Joan Miro, the painter, Mercè Rodoreda, she's a Catalan writer with universal resonance and she's the most read and translated Barcelonian writer. And her most international work is La plaça del Diamant, and it's a post-war history in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. We have Antoni Gaudi, the internationally recognized and as one of the most important generation in his discipline, is considered one of the greatest exponents of Modernism. We have La Sagrada Familia still going on, Antoni Tapies, a painter, Montserrat Caballé, soprano of opera and world renown, Charlie Rivel the clown, and Carmen Amaya, the flamenco dancer.

In science I could think about Josep Trueta. He was a physician and he was internationally recognized, among other things, for discovering how to disinfect wounds, which sounds so simple but was so important in the period of wars. And the second one would be Ignacio Barraquer, he was an ophthalmologist. And the Barraquer Clinic in Barcelona is an international benchmark and receives patients from all over the world.

Let me point to the two last ones. One of them is Vicente Ferrer. He's a Jesuit missionary and philanthropist. He created the Vicente Ferrer Foundation to eradicate hunger in an entire region of India. He could show that it is possible to eradicate hunger, and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation has celebrated like 40 years in the last year. Last but not least for us, it is a very important profile as a leader of the change of Barcelona in the last years, Pasqual Maragall. He was mayor of Barcelona between 1982 and 1997, and then he was president of the Catalan government for three years. In 2008 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and he created the Foundation Pasqual Maragall to fight this disease. He's the grandson of the poet Joan Maragall, and he has been the architect of the Barcelona Olympic Games and responsible for the most important innovation in the city, I would say for the last 50 years, maybe.

Greg Clark

I'm going to make a comment, not a question, Consol, to say that it's so interesting that so many of the people who have done something important as a leader of Barcelona are not from Barcelona. And this, of course, underlines and confirms your observation that Barcelona is a city for life's great ventures, because these are people who've come to Barcelona to do something extraordinary. I think it's very interesting confirmation, as it were, of the of the line.

Caitlin Morrissey

So the next question is what is the key myth about the city? Are there key stories, films, artefacts or songs that come to mind?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, I don't know if you know the song. And if not, I can give it to you, and you can put it on the interview. But the key myth about our, I would say, part of DNA is that Barcelona, she's got the power. Barcelona has the power. That is the title of a song created by the singer Peret for the Olympic Games. And it talks about the magic of the city, a cosmopolitan city with a diversity of cultures open to the world. So this song is a symbol for the city of the city, resilient in difficult times like the present one. The official name is Gypsy Sorceress because, as some say, Barcelona enchants you.

But there's also another magic song for Barcelona, was the one that Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe created for the Olympic Games called Barcelona. The journey there was born in 1987 when Barcelona was nominated for the 1992 Olympic Games. It is said that Freddie Mercury had been chasing the soprano Monserrat Caballe for some time because he admired her and wanted to sing with her. On the other hand, Pasqual Maragall had commissioned Montserrat to think of a song for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. So the result was the song Barcelona. Freddie Mercury died in November 1991 and he wasn't able to sing the song at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, but he had already sung it at the Olympic nomination. If you search the event on YouTube, it deserves a couple of minutes.

But we could also talk about books such as La Ciudad de Los Prodigios, The City of Marvels in English, by Eduardo Mendoza. This novel is a vivid portrait of the evolution of the city of Barcelona between the universal exhibition of 1888 and 1929, and it has been translated into 23 languages. 'La plaça del diamant', or Diamond Square in English, by Mercè Rodoreda, is translated into 40 languages as well. And this book is an exquisite portrait of post-war Barcelona through the gaze of a woman who meets her future husband at a dance in the Plaça del Diamant in the Gràcia neighbourhood. La Sombra del Viento, The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, it is a story about post-war Barcelona also, and it has more than 10 million copies sold and translated into 36 languages. And for those who don't know, even Don Quixote speaks of Barcelona. In this book, he goes to “Barcelona, archives of courtesy, shelter of the foreigners, hospital of the poor, father-land of the brave, vengeance of the offended and pleasant correspondence of firm friendship, and in site, and in beauty, unique”. This is it.

Caitlin Morrissey

Thank you. So the penultimate question is, what are the shocks in the course of Barcelona's history and what has it learned from those?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, it is difficult to find the key ones. I would highlight five of them, OK? One of them is especially important at this stage of Covid because in 1348, a ship coming from Geneva docked in the city to unload its goods and most of his crew was sick. Once in the port, it infected and devastated the rest of the population. It was the black plague epidemic and it killed 60% of Barcelona citizens. So this is not the first plague we have been through. And in the past, we have had terrible experiences related to these kinds of diseases. Another important day for us and year for us in Barcelona was the year 11th of September of 1714. Every September 11th is the National Day of Catalonia, and this day commemorates the fall of Barcelona to Bourbon troops during the war of the Spanish recession. It was after 14 months of siege of the city of Barcelona. We lost the 11th of September.

So another important day for Barcelona was that civil war in Spain from 1936 to 1939. During the last months of the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona suffered the most terrible bombing by Italian aviation, which was Franco's ally. Now in the 20th Century. I would highlight two specific ones, and the one of 1987, the terrorist attack in a mall where 20 people died, and in 2017, you know, in the 17th of August, in 2017, we had the terrorist attack on La Ramblas in Barcelona and Cambrils with 16 people died.

So if I have to think about something that helped our citizens in all of these difficult times is I could think of three words: resilience, collaboration and solidarity as a result of – to go to overcome these difficult periods of our times.

Caitlin Morrissey

I have one final question for you: what does the future hold for Barcelona?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, as I told you, Barcelona has shown in the past that collaboration between citizens, institutions and public and private entities is an important engine that has generated very positive results in its history. I am proud to say that I was one of them and proud of these other volunteer citizens who took part in the 1992 Olympic Games. The 35,000 volunteers who worked at the Barcelona '92 games and the 14,000 who did so at the Paralympics were a key piece in the success of the Olympic events.

Another example is the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, which is one of the jewels of the Gothics in our city. It was the result of the work of people in the port area during the 14th century. It was the neighbours of the area who paid for it with their money and their labour during the 14th and 15th centuries. And I would give another example, which is very impressive to me. I was obviously around. It was that the reconstruction of the Liceu, the building of the Barcelona Opera house that caught fire at the end of the 20th century, it was possible, thanks to the Social Business, an exhibition on movement that overturned with a reconstruction that would take place in record time, only five years.

And so if we had to start today learning to work together with this Covid crisis, everything would be more difficult. But we have the experience and the result and the success of these results to continue practicing for this institution, administrative business and citizens' collaboration as a formula to reactivate ourselves and move forward in the coming years. The City Alliance and our unique DNA, entrepreneur, nonconformist, resilient will be our best formula. And proof of this is the plan for Barcelona that is being designed between the city council and more than 200 stakeholders to reactivate our European economy. And, well, this is my modest reflection. I hope this has helped you to know a little better about Barcelona and its essence and an engine to move forward in these difficult times. But it is clear that in conclusion, and as I read a few days ago in some articles about the cities of the future, we know that cities around the world are at the centre of this pandemic and that they have been through many, as we have been, through many plagues in history. But urbanisation has always been a greater force than infectious disease. And cities are the best bet for new innovations, as Professor Blakelock once said. So with a huge effort, with a very high price, but with the hope that this pandemic will be an agent of change, accelerating innovation and technological, economic, social changes for the benefit of all the citizens and the planet in the long run.

Greg Clark

Well, Consol, this is a magnum opus from you and we're very, very grateful because this level of detail is priceless and very, very valuable to us.

I'm going to ask a couple of questions. One of the things you said is that Barcelona is the most northerly city of the south of Europe and it's the most southerly city of the north.

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Mediterranean city of the south.

Greg Clark

Yes. What does this phrase mean to you? 

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, on the one hand, we are a city, we are a digital city, technological city, and we are an innovative city and maybe we could have the mirror of the Nordic cities, of the Nordic countries, which have good quality of life and good technology. And they are related to the environment with bikes around the city and good quality of life of their cities. But on the other hand, you can have also the Mediterranean spirit, that facility, the way we live and we share work and personal and professional life. We could have a meeting on the top of the terrace, or we could have a night meeting related to business. So we can have the best of north and south in a mixture of cultures, and we are maybe the most European city in Spain. We are maybe the most creative city of the south of Europe, so this mixture makes us at this paradox of contrasts, one of our DNA pillars. It's very interesting to me because there's also a kind of history of people from northern Europe coming to Barcelona to do the great things in their life.

Greg Clark

Let's take Johan Cruyff or let's take John Shields or any of these other people. And at the same time, there is this idea that somehow the Catalan people are the great, great granddaughters and grandsons of the Frankish Empire, Charlemagne and his troops. Are these ideas important ideas in understanding the city? I suppose we didn't speak much about Barcelona as a Catalan city. Does that mean something in relation to that history of the Catalan people?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

Well, you know, and I would say Spain has like 46 million people, Catalonia is 7.7 million people. But Barcelona and its metropolitan area, it's more than 3.5 million people. And the trend is that more and more population will go on to live around this urban area. So it is difficult to separate Catalan from Barcelona since most of the population of Catalonia is around the engine of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Right. And related to what you said with Johan Cruyff, international talent coming to Barcelona. To me it's important to point out that if the international population is increasing in Barcelona, and incredibly increasing in the last 20 years. I would say that, as I told you somehow before and in the 20 years ago, there was only three percent of expats in the general population living in Barcelona. Now, this year and 2020, 30% of our population is people from more than one hundred and forty other countries in the world.

So we can prove that Barcelona is a city full of life adventures because people from all over the world think that it is a nice place to work and live and to have a good time in the meantime.

Greg Clark

Is there something in Catalan culture that is very visible in Barcelona that you can say this is the urban expression of Catalanism, or is everything that is Barcelona also Catalan?

Consol Vancells Casanovas

You know, it's a mixture, because I remember that one of the insights we received out of these listening workshops, international interviews, was that their geographical idea of Barcelona goes beyond las rondas, beyond our 20th century walls, right. So I would say that this idea of being an entrepreneur, of being always what's next, I could not differentiate it from Catalan or Barcelona spirit because it's a way of behaving that goes beyond our limits, the limits of the city. So I would say that it's also a Catalan way of doing, and I think that this idea of entrepreneurs, of being always what's next? How can we do things different? It's also very Catalan. So there's a mixture with Catalan and Barcelonian DNAs.

Greg Clark

Very interesting. And one last question, you did talk about this, that there's a kind of localness to Barcelona neighbourhoods, parishes, districts, barrios. This is a very strong idea. Where does this idea come from originally? Because I had always imagined this is a kind of Catalan idea of strong neighbourhood relationships. But tell me, where do you see the origin of this? It's a big city with a lot of small neighbourhoods.

Consol Vancells Casanovas

That's an interesting point. And let me tell you that the last neighbourhood that joined the city of Barcelona was Sarrià, the Sarrià neighbourhood, that was back 100 years ago. And I think that's the key. That's the that's the answer, that since we are between the mountain and the sea and there were plenty of little villages, there was Barcino and then there was the wall round Barcino and there were plenty of small villages around that. Little by little they were meeting with Barcelona, and each one of them, they do have still their own identity. And we have kept this identity in the global one. It is very interesting to see that each neighbourhood and its district has its health centre, its fiesta major, how do you say fiesta major in English?

Greg Clark

Well, it's its main festival or celebration, its key celebration.

Consol Vancells Casanovas

A year, one year. Right. So each neighbourhood has its own festival. So each one has its own markets, its own libraries. So this life around each neighbourhood that they have their own centres. So that makes that that that's one of the mysteries of Barcelona as well, because it has a human scale with all of these neighbourhoods coming from ancient villages that existed hundreds of years ago. I tell you, the last one was one hundred years ago. The last one to in Barcelona was Sarrià. So maybe that's the source of this special soul of Barcelona.